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Mustangs look to make history

A long memory and improving play could boost Wesleyan Christian School past Welch High School in a non-district, eight-man football showdown Friday.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m., in Welch.

“It should be a very competitive, very winnable game for us,” summarized WCS Mustang head coach Nathan England, who has guided his team to a 2-5 mark during a rebuilding campaign. “We expect it to be a good game. They have decent running and a good throw, so we’ll have to be sharp defensively.”

England also is hoping his older players will be motivated by the results of their last encounter with the Welch Wildcats — a team WCS has never beaten.

“Some the seniors this year played the last time we played Welch,” he noted. “They beat us pretty good and we’ve never beaten that school. But, we’ve got to win this one to get to 5-5.”

Following Friday’s fracas, the Mustangs will play at home their final two games, against Claremore Christian and Timberlake.

Welch (1-6) is in the opposite situation — the Wildcats will be on the road for weeks 9 and 10; Friday will be their Senior Night.

But, England believes Welch won’t be as strong — or as talented — as the last time the teams met.

Their quarterback, however, is dangerous weapon.

“He was very talented when he was a sophomore,” England explained. “He’ll be a guy we’ll probably have to stop. But, he doesn’t quite have that talent around him he did then.”

Of course, on the other hand, “we don’t have the talent we had then,” the WCS coach added.

He’ll be counting on his defense not to be sucked in by Welch’s play-action deception.

“That’s something we’ve struggled at with times during the year,” he said. “We tend to fall asleep. Hopefully, we’ll be shored up some. The return of Cory Chaney will help us some.”

England remains confident his team can win Friday night.

The return of Chaney opens up offensive options “that we’ve had on the backburner since he was hurt the start of the season,” England said.

The Mustang offense also has found success in recent games on quarterback keepers, the coach continued.

“We feel we can be pretty complete in the way we attack the field, whether it is an inside run or outside run or misdirection or passing the ball,” England said. “If we can establish the run game we’ll be in good shape. Our offensive line has come together.”

A major factor in the O-line’s evolution has been the development of Matt Cooper as a competent center.

“That’s allowed us to move Stephen Whitehead to strongside guard and give us someone big and strong to run behind,” England said.

Weakside guard Sam Phillips played well in last week’s win against Tyro Christian, England said.

Phillips also helped by letting the coaches know a Tyro defensive lineman kept shooting inside, which opened up the Mustangs’ sweep game.

Three different Mustangs — Chaney, Braydon Revard and Mangas Chinn — all could be throwing the ball Friday night.

WCS will have “to control the ball,” England said. “We’re going to have to have good offensive line play. … We have to continue to execute and to be able to runt he ball, which will set up our play action pass game. Defensively, we have to be disciplined in the secondary. Our defensive play will have to be good as far as containment and help stop their running quarterback.”

The Mustangs entered the season by having to break in a new quarterback, primary receiver and entire offensive and defensive lines.

Last year’s team made program history, during its period of OSSAA competition, with the first winning record (8-4), first playoff appearance and first playoff win.

But, with the graduation loss of so many key personnel — six seniors in all — the Mustangs have been enduring some growing pains so far this season.

However, things have been looking up.

After being shut out in three-consecutive outings, WCS has tallied 73 points in its last three games, while posting its first win in District C-3 play.

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